tence to revelation. For as for the intrinsic arguments drawn from the nature and quality of the revelation, they may prove it indeed to be wise, and good, and holy; but how they should prove it to be immediately revealed from God, I cannot apprehend. For as for the moral writings of the heathen philosophers, they were most of them very good, and wise, and holy; but yet it doth not hence follow, that the authors of them were immediately inspired when they wrote them: notwithstanding their goodness, they might be, and doubtless were, the dictates of their own natural reason, and so may any other doctrine, how good soever it be; and though the authors of such writings may pretend to be inspired, yet that is no argument that they are. For all that I know, they may pretend to it, to give credit to their doctrine, or they may think themselves inspired when they are not; so that they have no other way to convince me that what they pretend is true, but only by giving me some certain sign and token that they are really inspired from above; and no sign can reasonably convince me of this, but such a one as I have reason to believe God alone did enable them to give me: for so long as I have just reason to suspect that the sign which they give me was produced either by their own power, or by the power of some other agent besides God, it is no sign at all to me of their being inspired by God. Miracles, therefore, being the only signs we can reasonably believe are produced by the immediate power of God, it is they alone can indicate a man's being immediately inspired by God. For how can I be assured, that what a man saith is immediately revealed to him by God, unless God himself give me some sign or token that it is so? And how can I know that this or that is a sign or token from God, unless it be something so extraordinary and miraculous, as that, all things considered, I may reasonably conclude it was God alone that produced it? I confess, indeed, a miracle singly is not sufficient to demonstrate any doctrine to be of divine revelation; for unless the doctrine itself be good, at least unless it hath no apparent evil in it, there is no miracle whatsoever can prove it to be divine. For there is no argument in the world can persuade a reasonable man to believe God against himself; but to believe a bad doctrine to be the will of God, because it is confirmed by miracle, is to believe God's power against his goodness; and it is not more certain that God doth will what he confirms by miracles, than that he doth not, cannot will iniquity; nay, of the two, I should rather believe a good doctrine to be from God, barely because it is good, than that a bad doctrine is so, because it is confirmed by miracles; it being more possible for a wicked impostor to work a miracle, than for a holy God to will sin. But yet the goodness of a doctrine singly considered, and without the confirmation of miracles, is no certain proof that it is of divine revelation. It is true, those things in any doctrine which are morally good, and founded upon eternal reasons, may be demonstrated true by moral arguments, without any additional confirmation by miracles; but if the doctrine contain in it any proposition that is matter of pure revelation, and cannot be known without it, it is hardly possible to prove such a doctrine true without producing some miraculous sign of its truth and divinity. As for instance, how can a man know that God hath appointed Jesus to be the mediator between himself and us, which is matter of pure revelation, wholly depending on the free-will of God, unless God himself gives us some miraculous sign, by which we may know that it is his will and appointment? And therefore we find, that there is no revelation, or pretence of revelation, but what lays claim to this way of confirmation. Thus the Mosaic religion was confirmed by sundry great and stupendous miracles: and even the false religion of the heathen pretended to this way of confirmation also; for generally they established their superstitious rites by magical tricks and incantations, they conjured their demons into their consecrated images, and made the lifeless stocks to move and speak; they pretended to effect extraordinary cures by the invocation of their idols; they often raised the devils they adored by their charms and enchantments, and made them appear in strange visible shapes to their superstitious votaries; and by these and such like miraculous pretences, they introduced all their idolatrous ceremonies; which is a plain evidence, that they thought miracles to be the most proper and natural arguments of the truth of any revelation. And since the thing is capable of no better way of demonstration, it is an unreasonable thing not to be satisfied with this: for he who will not believe that a thing which may be is, without an impossible proof of its existence, is unreasonably resolved, right or wrong, not to believe it. So that this way of Christ's proving his doctrine by his miracles, and particularly by his resurrection, being the best and most proper, if we will not believe it upon this evidence, we are incurable infidels, whom no reason in the world can convince or persuade. 2. This evidence of miracles is the most certain and infallible medium to prove the truth of any pretence to revelation. For if God give a man power to do miracles, in token that what he says is true, he thereby sets his own seal to the truth of it; and if we are satisfied, that the miracle was wrought by the power of God, and yet will not believe the doctrine it seals, we do in effect give the lie to God himself; for a real miracle wrought to confirm a doctrine, gives as great a certainty of the truth of that doctrine as we can have of the truth of God, which is the foundation of all the certainty in the world; because if once it be granted that God may work a miracle to attest a lie, we can have no security of his truth; but for all that we know, every thing that he saith or doth may be an imposture; and if so, for all we know, he may have deceived our faculties too; and then there is nothing can be certain to us. The miracles of Christ therefore, and especially this of his resurrection, gives us as great certainty of the truth of his doctrine, as we can have of any thing. For that he was raised by the power of God is evident, because he was really dead, his heart was pierced, and the vital bonds were broken, which rendered him utterly incapable to raise himself; and supposing that there be some agent in nature besides God, that was powerful enough to raise him, yet we are sure the Devil would not do it, because, as was shewn before, he must thereby do a thing infinitely contrary to his own temper, and apparently destructive to his interest and kingdom; nor would any holy angel have done it, without a special command and commission from God, which is the same thing as if God himself had done it immediately. So that, it is plain, Christ's resurrection must be effected either by the immediate will or by the immediate power of God; and whether it was one way or the other, it was a most certain evidence of the truth of his doctrine; because it cannot be imagined that the God of truth would either way have raised him from the dead, had he been an impostor, since, in so doing, he must have taken the most effectual course to impose a cheat upon mankind. For whilst he was alive, he promised to rise again the third day, and gave this as the great sign to the world, whereby they should know that he came from God; upon the hearing of which, all unprejudiced minds (especially considering the nature of his doctrine) had abundant reason to conclude thus with themselves: If this man make good his word, we can no longer doubt, but that he was sent from God; for to be sure, he cannot rise, unless God raise him; and it can never enter into our thoughts, that the God of truth will raise him, on purpose to delude and deceive us. When therefore he was actually risen, they could not, without being guilty of the most unreasonable obstinacy, make any farther scruple of his truth and veracity. There was, about six hundred years ago, a certain Jew called El David, who gave out that he was Christ, and drew a great many proselytes after him; upon which he was apprehended, and brought before an Arabian prince, who asked him what miracle he could do, to convince him that he was not an impostor: to which he answered, "Sir, cut off my head, "and in a little time you shall see me alive again.' Which he said to prevent some greater torments, which he feared would be inflicted on him for deluding the people. Whereupon the prince replied, “ A |